First Sikh to broadcast Canada sporting event in English

A little broadcast history was made Wednesday night at the Scotiabank Saddledom when Harnarayan Singh, who worked as rinkside reporter in the Toronto Maple Leafs-Calgary Flames contest for Hockey Night In Canada, became the first Sikh to broadcast a sporting event in English.

Harnarayan has been a member of the Hockey Night in Canada: Punjabi broadcast team since 2008, and is also the first person to call hockey games in Punjabi.

“Hockey is the fabric of Canadian culture, it brings people together. For myself growing up in southern Alberta, it was the icebreaker between my classmates and I, and that’s what makes Canada so special, the diversity is celebrated and to have a person like myself be in the hockey family, it just speaks to the multiculturalism that is so greatm,” Harnarayan told CBC News according to a report at USA Today.

Harnarayan’s call of Nick Bonino’s goal in last season’s playoffs went viral, but that was in Punjabi. He says each language has its own unique style for play-by-play.

He believes the Punjabi edition of HNIC is helping to grow the sport in the South Asian community. In fact, Singh was told the number of hockey registrations is on the rise there.

“More people playing hockey, more people buying tickets,” he said, “buying jerseys and participating in Canadian culture, so it’s great.”

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